Reunion
by Yva J
Summary: Years later, Lucy has returned to Narnia for the last time and faces her oldest and dearest Narnian friend. They are about the same age here and Lucy is grown. Takes place at the end of 'The Last Battle'.
1. Chapter 1

**Reunion**

By Yva J.

_a/n This story is set right after the end of 'The Last Battle' when Lucy returns to Narnia for the last time. I have decided to keep all religious based allegories out of the story, all the while trying to maintain a spiritual sense (specifically in the second part). With that said, this story can be read by anyone and it is a story about the enduring power of love. I make mention of this because of the overt religious allegory that is contained at the end of the Narnian Chronicles, specifically at the time and place that I am depicting in this story. In this piece of fantasy, Lucy and Tumnus are around the same age physically, but more on that in the second part.  
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_This is a Lucy/Tumnus two shot. It started out as a one shot, and then I got inspired to write a second installment to it, which I will post later. As always, there is no intention to infringe on any previously/currently held copyrights with this. This is an amateur story, and my other story will continue once this second part has been added. I haven't forgotten._

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He had been waiting for such a long time for this moment; it felt rather like centuries if you wanted to know the honest to goodness truth. The time seemed to have passed by as though in slow motion, yet, he knew that when the moment would arrive, that it would feel as though no time had passed at all. He only hoped that the person he was waiting for would feel the very same way.

He took a deep breath, this literally catching in his throat and emerging as though he had run the hundred-yard dash and was heavily breathing as he had crossed the finish line. His heart felt as though it was hammering wildly in his chest, each beat a pulsating drumbeat of anticipation and nervousness.

It had been close to two thousand Narnian years since he was brought to this new place, his old cave and all his possessions now in ruins in Lantern Waste. Sighing, he remembered how Aslan had come for him in his old cave, the noble lion telling him it was time for him to leave this place and to journey with him to a new home. Arguing with Aslan was clearly out of the question, and somewhere in the depths of his being, he knew that the time had come for him to depart from Narnia and follow the true King to wherever it was he was meant to go.

His new life would start, and yet in the recesses of his heart, he knew that without a certain someone to grace that existence, that time or space would cease to matter to him. Simply put, he would be perfectly content about going away and experiencing the new beginning that had been promised. Perhaps in that, he could forget the past and the separation that haunted him.

It was the day he left the old country when Aslan had prophesized to him that he would once more be reunited with his beloved Lucy Pevensie, Queen of Narnia from the Golden Age. Yet, every day, he waited and hoped for the sign that his dearest friend in all of Narnia would return to him from Spare Oom, and their reunion would take place.

That day had finally come.

He wrung his hands together as he thought of this. What ever would he say? How would he react to her? But, the question gnawing at him the most, how would she react to him? Did Aslan or anyone, for that matter, even know that he was as nervous as a schoolboy at this moment? Did they realize that the feelings he had for Lucy were unlike any that he had ever felt in his existence?

He shook his head as he remembered how Lucy had come into his life and brought warmth, sunshine, and brightness into his lonely and isolated world. She remained his friend even after she had grown up and become a lady. Yet, the day that she disappeared from his life, he feared that his heart would surely break into a thousand pieces. He had wanted to say so much to her, but he never could, something had always blocked him from doing so. Everyone knew of it, even Aslan had seen it.

A stray tear caught in his eye as he remembered those times in his life when he had been too scared or shy to say what he truly felt. He had asked Aslan what was wrong with him, a faun acting this way towards a Daughter of Eve. It seemed so wrong; so unnatural. Yet, all of these questions had been raised after Lucy's disappearance, when it was too late for him to say or do anything about it. He had more chances bestowed on him in which to tell her what he felt when she was there, but he never did, the feelings he carried remained locked away in the sanctuary of his heart.

It should not happen, he had argued with himself, but yet it did, the feelings that went through his mind and heart were still real and vivid even after all this time had passed. It was in this place, in Aslan's Country, where he could truly feel the emotion of love vibrating his every sense.

He shook his head as he remembered the wise lion's words when he confessed what his feelings towards Lucy actually were. He half expected to be reprimanded by the mighty lion, but that did not emerge.

"Your feelings of love are not inappropriate, Son of the Forest," Aslan had said firmly. "There is nothing wrong with the emotion of love, and the overwhelming love and devotion, which you hold for Queen Lucy is not wrong, it's quite beautiful. You can look beyond all the things that make you different physically, and see straight into the heart of another. What is there to disapprove of in that?"

"Nothing?" He had replied somewhat hesitantly, but his word had emerged in the form of a question, as opposed to the confident response Aslan had wished to hear.

"My beloved Tumnus," the wise lion had responded. "Is there truly anything more beautiful and noble than the expression of love? It is far better than that other alternative, is it not?"

The words of the lion had not only been wonderful, but they had emerged so matter-of-fact that Tumnus could not doubt or deny them any longer.

Aslan had said it, there was nothing wrong or inappropriate about his feelings towards Lucy, but the question still lingered: How old would Lucy be at the moment when they were to be reunited? For her an unexplained amount of time will have passed, but for him, it felt like an eternity.

Would her feelings be the same as his?

This single, solitary, question continued to ravage the faun's very thoughts, even as he left his home and walked slowly towards the meeting place. He had heard all the stories; Aslan's country was to be the new Narnia, the new place, where the Great Lion would forever be revered as the one true King. This was a moment that even Tumnus had come to understand, and had embraced with all that was inside of him. This was truly the reality, and now a moment that he had anticipated for thousands of years was upon him. Lucy would return, and she would forever be a part of his existence.

How wonderful is that?

Yet, there was still more that was going through his mind when he looked around the area and could see some of the other creatures of Narnia waiting as well. Some he knew, some he did not, but from the anticipated whispers that that were heard all around him, he concluded that all of them must have heard the news as well and were anxiously waiting for Aslan and the other Kings and Queens to arrive.

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched and waited among the throng of his people for the sky to open up and for his beloved to step into this new world.

* * *

As she stepped into the new Narnia, Lucy's eyes widened at the sheer color and light that filled her. It was as though everything around her was new and alive, that her heart fluttered and raced in distinct harmony with everything and everyone. 

She had made it back home to Narnia, but anything that happened in the wake of her return happened in a literal haze. In hindsight, the eighteen-year-old was not really sure if all these things had truly transpired at all.

She had shaken so many hands and embraced so many friends that she had lost track of everything that was happening around her. This seemed so strange for her, but one pair of eyes she could not forget, for they would stand out in her heart and mind even after he had vanished in the crowd. He was, after all, her oldest and dearest friend, and even after she had been pushed further along the throng of greeters, his familiar and loving eyes would not be forgotten, even though she could no longer see him.

Where did he go? She asked herself, but instead of seeing her beloved faun, she stood face to face with Aslan who told her that she and her brothers would be staying in Narnia forever and deep inside, these were truly the words her heart longed to hear.

Although, the lion's words had lifted her spirits higher than she could have imagined, there was a bitter sweetness, which remained. Susan was not with them; her sister had drifted so far away from Lucy, that they had become virtual strangers. This often happened with sisters, and lurking in the recesses of Lucy Pevensie's heart, a tinge of sadness remained. She would not see Susan for a long, long time, but this time it was Susan's choices not Lucy's that had instigated this.

Ironically, realism was a trait Susan was known for, but yet it was here where Lucy's own sense of realism had affirmed for her that she and Susan had never truly shared the closeness that their two brothers shared. Now, the distance of time and space between the two sisters affirmed this tenfold.

Shaking her head, Lucy dismissed the thoughts of her sister as her feelings shifted once more to the matter at hand. She had returned to Narnia and from what Aslan had conveyed to her and the others, they now had an eternity of experiences together. This had to have been the most wonderful thing that she could have imagined, but yet, her thoughts seemed grounded. Even after she had completely dismissed her sister, her mind became once more centered on someone whom she knew she loved dearly. It was only at that moment, that she realized that she had to find him and tell him everything she carried in the recesses of her heart. Too much time had passed, and too many things were left unsaid.

For a split second, she remembered having greeted the faun, but this had come about rather quickly, the embrace lasting only seconds. As quickly as the moment had come, it was gone, passing by in a literal blur. It was expected, as she had been swamped with greetings and happy reunions with her other friends. Yet, these small dialogues with them were not to be compared to the moment when she had seen her first Narnian friend amongst them.

A swell of joy had filled her, and without even a moment's hesitation, she suddenly recalled the day when she had met the faun as a small child. The day by the lamppost seemed as though it had been molded into the present moment and Lantern Waste was as real at that moment as it had been back then. It was in those memories that she recalled how she had scared the daylights out of him at the lamppost, but also how he had affirmed that he did not intend to scare or frighten her. Even today, she still giggled nervously at the memory of asking him 'what are you?'.

Sighing, she politely excused herself from her brothers, parents, cousin, and friends, and separated herself from the still growing throng of greeters. She needed some time alone, to realize what had happened to her, and come to grips with the realization that she would never again have to return to England. Her heart literally swelled with joy as she thought about endless days in Narnia, walks in the forest, and teatimes that she would have with those whom she loved most in the world.

Yet, now that she was separated from everyone else, she longed for nothing more than a few moments with her oldest and dearest friend. Internally, all she wanted to do was to wrap her arms around him as far as they would go, hold him, kiss him, and make sure he was truly real. She had dreamt of this moment so many times before, and now, she wanted nothing more than to know conclusively that he was there with her and not a figment of her imagination.

She wanted to touch him and make sure that he was the reality and this wasn't just another flight into the fantasy. She shook her head as she recalled how her brothers and sister believed that she had made Narnia up in the beginning. Now, her brothers were with her and there was no way to dismiss it as mere chance.

For whatever reason, she pulled up the sleeve of her dress and pinched her arm. "Ouch!" she muttered as she clamped her eyes shut and then opened them and took in where she stood. "OK, this is real enough," she whispered as she rubbed her upper arm, her eyes literally dancing as she took in her surroundings. Everything was brighter, bolder, and more beautiful than anything she could have even imagined.

Moments seemed to pass by in slow motion, and taking another look around, she spotted a figure that was quickly leaving the group, a red colored scarf visible for miles around and she immediately knew who it was.

"Mr. Tumnus," she whispered, and broke into a run to catch up with him. "Mr. Tumnus," her voice emerged somewhat louder as she stumbled and dodged past the others and tried not to lose sight of him.

She continued running after him. "Mr. Tumnus, please stop," she finally shouted over the throng and several heads turned, but she paid them no mind, she ran straight to the faun, straight into his arms. From there, she buried her face against the softness of his red scarf and began to cry softly, the words simply not coming.

* * *

She stood for several moments holding him, but finally she managed to regain control of her emotions and spoke. "Thank heavens you stopped," she managed once her crying had subsided, a streak of moistness was left against his scarf. The faun seemed not to mind this, he merely smiled at her, his hand touching the top of her head, but he wordlessly waited for her to continue speaking. 

"I didn't know if I could have caught up with you, you run faster than a gazelle during a hunt," she said laughing nervously as she felt the words literally rushing out of her. She backed away from him as she rested her hand over her heart, but she wanted nothing more than to look at him, to see him standing before her.

Her eyes were filled with joy, but there was also something in her gaze that Tumnus had somehow forgotten whenever he would look at her. The overwhelming love she seemed to emanate flowed out of her like water from a fountain. How could he have forgotten this?

He took both of her hands in his and looked down at her, a small laugh escaping him as he realized that she was still shorter than he was, and her age was that of a young woman, and not a little girl. He too was young again, his blue eyes merry, and the realization of their similarities in age flooded over each of them.

Yet, through all those years, he was still completely captivated by her eyes. There was something that dwelled in them that emanated both innocence and wisdom, newness and maturity, as well as happiness and joy.

She once more meshed her face against him, this time; she felt the soft bareness of his chest. Somewhere amidst all this emotion came even more tears, and Tumnus felt them against his skin and backed away from her, his hands gently taking her face in his as he tipped up her chin, and smiled down at her, his fingertips now rubbing the moisture away. "Why do you cry, dearest Lucy?"

"I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again, Mr. Tumnus," she cried brokenly as she reached up and gripped one of his hands tightly in her own. The grip she had on him growing tighter by the minute until the faun unconsciously cringed.

"It's all right, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere," he managed to speak as he looked down at his hand and noticed that his fingers had started to turn blue.

Lucy followed his gaze and seeing his hand, she loosened her hold, but she did not fully let go. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to hurt you," she whispered softly.

"I know," he said smiling slightly, but started to lead her away from the group of Narnians and into a crop of trees where they could be alone. There he stopped and with his hand still holding hers, he pulled her gently into his embrace and held her, his face meshing against her flowing dark brown hair.

They remained standing there for several moments, lost in the silence of the moment until he raised his head and began to speak. "It has been so dreadfully long since last seeing you, dearest Lucy," the faun said softly. "I must remind myself almost constantly that this moment is real, that you are truly here. I cannot let go of you for fear that if I did, you would vanish before my eyes." These words had been rehearsed in his mind countless times, but this time, their emergence was completely genuine and filled with so much love that Lucy thought that her heart would surely explode with joy upon hearing them.

"I've missed you too," she whispered. "I never forgot you, even after all this time had passed. Then I returned to Narnia and I never saw you there and it tore me to pieces. My heart ached to see you every time, but I never told anyone of my feelings, not my brothers or my sister, not anyone."

"Neither did I, there was only one who knew," he said softly. "When I first came here, Aslan promised me that I would one day see you again, but I didn't dare to hope. I feared that it was just a dream, that you were a dream that would disappear come the dawn's first light."

She released his hand and began to wipe the tears from beneath her eyes and he retrieved a small, white piece of cloth and unfolded it before reaching over and wiping her eyes with it. She looked up at him and noticed that he was smiling down at her, not as a guardian or simply a friend, but as more, much more that she dared to believe or even hope for. It was at that instant that she realized what everything had meant.

They would have an eternity together.

These words remained unspoken, but she could see, amidst the tears that still were forcing their way out from the corners of her eyes, that he remained standing before her. He had once again folded the handkerchief and tucked it under his scarf.

Wordlessly, the faun wrapped her securely in his arms and held her, one of his hands stroking the back of her head. Carefully, she too wrapped both of her arms around him, her eyes shining with life, love and all the things that the faun had forgotten only to rediscover on the day he had met her for the very first time.

As their embrace ended, he reached out and touched the side of her face. She raised her head and looked deeply into his eyes, the words still not coming. She simply stared at him, caught up in her own memories.

After several moments had passed, she began to speak. "You don't know how much I had prayed for this moment to come, when we could be together, and never be separated again; not by time, space, formalities, or even another world. I just wanted to be here with you, together, the two of us, forever."

Tumnus' heart soared, his thoughts returning to the conversation he had with Aslan, and it was at that moment that he realized that the love he carried for her was not wrong, but right, and that Aslan had conveyed this to him in so many ways.

He kept his hand gently pressed against one side of her face, but began to speak. "That's what love is," he whispered. "That is what Aslan promised us, and this is the first day of that eternal promise. Now the reality is the dream, my dearest, and that dream has come true."

With that, he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her waiting lips.


	2. Chapter 2

_This is the second and last installment of the story called 'Reunion', this part I call 'Eternity'. What started out as a one shot story has turned into a two shot story. This part goes a bit deeper into the spiritual aspects of the story, but the romantic parts are still intertwined in it. I hope that this will clarify and explain the time / age issue that was mentioned in a short paragraph in the first part. Yes, there was mention of the ages of the two characters in the initial draft as being close or similar, but this will expound on that somewhat, and hopefully, there won't be any room left for misunderstanding._

_To my reviewers, a profound thank you for giving this somewhat obscure premise a chance!_

**Eternity**

When the kiss ended, Lucy looked at him, confusion evidently shadowing her face, and the faun looked somewhat perplexed. "Have I done something wrong?" He inquired not really sure of what to make of her odd facial expression.

She touched her lips and smiled shyly. "No, I internally hoped that you would kiss me like that, but you…" Her voice trailed off and she was unable to put into words what specifically she wanted to say. Instead, she reached out and touched his face. "You…"

"What is it?" He asked, but watched as she slowly backed away and looked up at him, the contact abruptly broken.

"You haven't changed at all? You look the very same as you did the day we first met. Why?" Lucy asked. "I've changed, but why haven't you?"

"That would take some time for me to explain," he said and looked around where they were standing. "I should explain everything to you, but I really don't know where to start. Aslan had a time trying to explain all of this to me when I first came here. Yet, I can only guess that since you only arrived today, you obviously have the very same questions about it that I did."

"Yes, I guess so," she said softly. "As we were speaking just now, I kept thinking about how deeply I care you, then you kissed me, and everything suddenly felt right as though I had no real reason to question anything. I knew at that moment that I loved you and that I wanted to be with you, but then the kiss broke and I suddenly realized that even though I wanted nothing more than for it to go on forever, I could not let go of the questions that remained. Mr. Tumnus, I don't know what's happening to me or what I am to make of all of this."

"I can very well guess that you are perhaps frightened about seeing me as I am right now. In hindsight, I suspect you figured on seeing an older faun with spectacles who is unable to walk by himself, correct?" He asked directly.

Smiling weakly, she nodded. "Yes, I suppose so, it's strange because I figured that you'd be much older then you are. I'm not disappointed; please don't think that. If you had been older, I'd ponder if my feelings towards you were wrong."

"Yes, I understand far better than you can imagine," he said with a slow nod. "I shared a similar conversation with Aslan. I could choose, and I felt much more comfortable being this age, as opposed to any other. I realized that I longed to be the same age as I had been when we first met. That was, you see, the happiest day of my life. It was hard and bittersweet, but wonderful too. I knew that it signified the warmest moments of my existence and I did not want to ever forget that. Later, I had the chance to watch you grow into such a lovely young woman," he said smiling as a slight blush crept up his cheeks.

"Me lovely?" She whispered.

"Yes," he said simply but did not elaborate.

"Right now, you look the very same as that day at the lamppost. The day when I scared you, then we spoke and shook hands," she smiled as she abruptly extended her hand to him and watched as he took her offered hand in his and shook it in the very same manner as he had done that day so long ago. She giggled as they began to swing their hands back and forth. "I shouldn't be asking so many questions, should I?" She asked with laughter in her voice. "It sort of ruins the moment, doesn't it?"

"No, your questions actually enhance it," Tumnus said smiling at her, but retained the hold he had on her hand. "You would be asking them sooner or later anyway, because as well as being beautiful, you are also very inquisitive."

Lucy smiled weakly. "No one's ever called me 'beautiful' before, nor have they called me 'lovely'."

"That I find hard to believe," he said.

"It's true, you flatter me, but Susan is the one who is beautiful, not I," she said.

"Queen Susan is beautiful yes, but that doesn't mean that you are not. You must never forget that it was your loving nature that drew me to you, and internal beauty cannot be hidden by external things, it shines through, and it is that, which I see in you." He released her hand so that he could touch her face, his fingertips gently caressing her cheek. "Lucy, when I spoke to Aslan, he told me that I would see you again, and my heart leapt for joy at that moment. He knew how much you mean to me and he has affirmed to me that the love I hold for you is no mistake, nor is it wrong, or improper. I think in making me young, he has given his blessing to us, dearest Lucy."

"A blessing, as in you are my betrothed?" She said not bothering to try and conceal her wonder. She could suddenly feel her heart as it began to beat loudly in her chest, and she knew that she wanted nothing more than to be just that.

He nodded. "In a way, yes, but it is more than that. You see, a true love cannot be bounded by time or space, souls are bonded by love, the purest love that Aslan emanated when he created Narnia or when he brought us together for an eternity. That love exists far beyond anything that we can comprehend in the physical sense. That is, your perceptions of old and young are born out of your own perception of time. Here, time doesn't exist, so although we look as we do, it is entirely our choice."

"You mean; I chose to look this way?" She asked.

"Yes, you did," he smiled and nodded. "If you had not chosen it, then you would be different than you are right now. Aslan would have granted your wish to be a different age, but you see, deep inside, you would still always be the same Lucy Pevensie that I met in Narnia all those years ago. Do you understand?"

"Not really," she shook her head, "but maybe it doesn't really matter." She reached out and touched his scarf. "Everything is just as I remembered, and that's so comforting."

The faun nodded. "Yes, it is."

"This is still strange to me," she shook her head as she fingered the scarf. "So I guess my considering it strange is because I have a different concept of time than you or Aslan, right?" She asked.

"Yes."

"So here time doesn't really exist? Is that all that this is about, how I perceive the passage of time?"

"Essentially, yes," he smiled. "Lucy, what you are will not change, you are here at this moment because you chose it." He offered her his arm formally and continued to speak. "To explain it in a much easier way, just imagine that there is no past or future, there exists only the moment."

"But how do you remember so much about what happened in the past? I mean; you remember the lamppost and everything that happened there, right?" She asked and he nodded. "If time doesn't exist, then how could you possibly remember all of those events?"

"I think because the past and the future are meshed together in the present," he offered. "It is all rather confusing, but I do remember a great deal. Maybe Aslan gave me these memories and I kept them alive in my heart." As he spoke, he backed away from her and reemphasized this point by speaking the very same words he had spoken all those years ago. "Lucy Pevensie from the far land of Spare Oom where eternal summer reigns over the bright city of War Drobe, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?"

"That's what you said when we first met," she smiled brightly. "I remembered it when I first arrived here and recognized you. It all came back to me, and it felt like it happened only yesterday, but logically, I knew that it was really a long time ago."

Tumnus smiled. "I never forgot it, and I didn't forget that you accepted my offer then. So, would you care to join me now?"

This time, without so much as a hesitation, she wrapped her hand around his offered arm and they began to walk in the direction of where Tumnus' cave was situated. Several minutes later, they reached his front door and she shook her head, all the while unable to conceal her disbelief. "Everything looks exactly the same as I remember," she whispered.

He nodded as he opened the door. "It is, this cave has everything that the other cave had, and as soon as you enter, it will also have your warmth." He held it open for her so that she could enter. "Please."

As she came inside, she gasped but looked around. Just as he had said, everything was exactly as it had been the first time she had visited him.

"This isn't possible," she whispered, backing up against him and he found himself wrapping her gently in his arms in order to steady her so that she would not fall. "How could everything be as it was before? Your cave in Lantern Waste is probably in ruins today, yet this looks exactly the same. To be honest, it's kind of scary," she said and shuddered.

"In the old country, things decayed and were destroyed over time, but here everything is as we wish for it to be. It is sort of like a reflection on what it had once been, but this mirror is larger and grander than anything we could imagine," he said smiling. "It makes this New Narnia much better than the Shadow lands of the Old Narnia."

"Is it like magic?" She asked.

"No, not so much magic as the manifestation of what we hope or wish for," he shook his head as he motioned towards the chairs and Lucy lowered herself into one of them, her eyes wide as she took in the familiar, yet strange sitting room.

Everything was as she remembered it to have been, right down to the portrait of Tumnus' father that was placed over the mantle. As she sat and waited for him to join her, she wrapped her arm around herself and shivered unconsciously, not so much as from the cold, as from the strange familiarity that she had in this place.

The faun, upon seeing this, went over and set a fire in the fireplace, and within minutes the cave had warmed up and Lucy eventually spoke. "It's strange, every time I look at you, it feels as though I'm getting a second chance."

"In a way that is what we are both getting," he said as he sat down across from her. "Lucy, I know this is dreadfully frightening for you, it's like seeing a ghost or worse yet, thinking that I bathed in a fountain of youth. You had no idea that you'd meet up with me today, or that I'd look the way I do, but I am the same as you remember. In Narnian years compared to Spare Oom years, I am not so much older than you are now. You see, dearest Lucy, Aslan knew from the start what was happening with us and he made it possible for this moment to come about. After all, if he has the power to turn back time and overcome a witch's magic, then he can make an old faun young again."

"Is that really what you wanted?" She asked. "Too look this young and not be some old codger here?"

The faun chuckled softly, but nodded. "I wanted nothing more than to be as you remembered me, through that, perhaps you could grow to love me as much I do you. It is rather selfish of me to speak this way, I know, but when I left the old country and came here, everything became new again. All the aches and pains of my age left me, as did the physical attributes, which showed how old I was. Dearest Lucy, I was truly free and Aslan restored my youth, just as he breathed life into me all those years ago when I had been turned into a statue. This is why all of your friends in Narnia look the way they do, this is Aslan's gift to us all. He doesn't want us to live in this new place as old and decrepit, he wants us to live and breathe in this world as he intended. I realized this through the dialogues I shared with him. I came to understand that his true wish for all of us is to love without limit or condition, and to live the fullness of life as intended. This is not a continuation of your life as it was, nor is it a continuation of my life as it was, but instead a new beginning, a rebirth and a chance to start anew."

"I never thought I would be called back into Narnia again," Lucy said softly, a stray tear streaming down her cheek. "Aslan said I was too old to come back, and now I'm here and it's only nine years later in my time, and I've grown up, maybe it's a mistake, and I am too old to be here and should be sent back," she said as a shudder cursed through her.

"No, it's no mistake, you are not too old to be here," he said smiling at her, his eyes twinkling. "You're perfect as you are." Inching closer to her, he leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder. "You are not that child anymore. Deep inside, you will always be that little girl who asked me: 'What are you?'." He chuckled softly. "No one had ever asked me that before, and it was something that I would always remember about you. That one statement showed me that you were not someone to fear, but rather someone who knew that the nature of love was without boundaries or limits."

"I remembered that just before I came to find you," she smiled as she tapped the tip of his nose with her finger. "Perhaps, today; I truly know what you are."

"And what might that be?"

"What else? You are my one true love," she said as he raised his head and she wrapped her arms around him, her lips brushing teasingly against his.

He returned her kiss, his lips gently caressing her own. "I still remember you as you were back then, and perhaps that is what you fear the most, that I will only see what you were and not what you have become, but I do see you, my love, I have."

She lowered her head and nodded. "This is all a bit much for me to take in," she whispered honestly.

The faun reached over and touched her face. "All you have to know, dearest Lucy, is in Aslan's Country, you have finally come home. This is the reality, not the dream. You are not too old for this reality, for that child which dwells in the heart of the woman you have become, still lingers. I have been waiting for you to come, and you have no reason to fear ever being sent back. You are no longer bound by the rules or expectations of your time." He leaned over, and this time, instead of giving her a teasing kiss, his lips covered hers with all the love he carried in his heart for her.

When the kiss ended, he began to speak softly, his lips only inches from hers. "The only time that exists now, is eternal."

The End.


End file.
